Web-based real time communications (WebRTC) made some big advances this week, with a variety of new products emerging and several new advancements bringing steadily more potential to a space that is very much still an emerging one. There was, therefore, plenty of news making its way into the field, and that makes the coming of the weekend the perfect time to settle in and run down some of the week's biggest news with our Week In Review coverage!
First came word out of Mozilla, which unveiled its new TowTruck service geared toward getting collaboration, full and real-time, into Web-based environments. TowTruck operates in a similar fashion to Google Drive, allowing multiple users to make changes to a document left in a central environment for review. TowTruck operates via just a small bit of JavaScript code, meaning it requires neither plug-in nor extra software, changing the dynamics of the page itself and allowing other editors to join in just by following a link.
Further news came from the upcoming WebRTC Conference and Expo, where a wide variety of Gold Sponsors — including new names like Bistri, Quobis, StarPound, Teledini and Weemo — were looking to take advantage of a chance to show off some great new products and services of their own. The WebRTC Conference and Expo is set to run July 25-27 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Cobb Galleria, and will feature an array of sponsors with exciting things to show. The newcomers, meanwhile, will offer everything from click-to-talk technology to cloud contact center solutions.
Next came a report specifically tackling an odd combination: WebRTC and cystic fibrosis. More specifically, the report addressed a growing telehealth project focusing on it emerging in Australia. Powered by WebRTC, the project in question looks to get care for sufferers who live farther away from doctors than the ordinary. Dubbed the Regional Cystic Fibrosis e-Health & Telemonitoring program, it's part of a larger initiative from the Victorian Department of Health and the Broadband Enabled Innovation Program. With WebRTC at its base, the project will allow doctors and patients to stage video connections without having to use specialized software, or even plug-ins for current browsers.
Next, Mavenir Systems brought out a new User Experience Center in Croatia. Mavenir's User Experience Center looks to bring together skilled designers in several different platforms — Android, iOS, Windows and BlackBerry among them — to create the best in new IP services. While the User Experience Center's offerings will cover a wide variety of fields, from voice over LTE to Rich Communications Services, the facility's focus will be on WebRTC due to its potential for total disruption in the larger system.
Finally, we had a closer look at the concept of WebRTC and Web-based gaming. While there is still some debate on just how much of a role HTML5 can play in the larger gaming ecosystem, there isn't anywhere near the debate for WebRTC in gaming, which has already showed up on several fronts. Mozilla's BananaBread demo showed off a first-person shooter coded in C++ and OpenGL, and compiled with Emscripten into both WebGL and JavaScript, that featured the opportunity to use real-time communications while playing. It's a long way until it shows up in several formats, but the proof that it can work is clear.
That was the week that was in WebRTC, and plenty of news emerged from ourWebRTC World site. Be sure to join us back here next week for all the biggest news, and every weekend for our Week in Review coverage!
